Hi!

My mother has had a history of recurrent oral cancer over the past few years. She has had several surgeries in her mouth on one side. Not long time ago, she discovered swelling under her jaw - turned out she had positive lymph nodes. She had a surgery to remove all of her lymph nodes on that side.

The final pathology report showed 2 positive lymph nodes out of 7 on Level 1. All Level II, III and IV nodes were benign. "Extranodal extension" was identified. According to our doctor, that meant higher chances of recurrence, and that my mother definitely needs radiation. When I asked about any other treatments that may help her chances of recovery, he thought about for a minute it and said that additional chemotherapy may help to referred us to chemotherapist and radiation therapist.

Obviously, my mother is very concerned about the side effects. Since doctor did not originally mention chemo, we are wondering whether it is really necessary to add chemo to radiation and whether it will really provide additional help in her case. Also, he mentioned that Erbitux has milder side effects than Cisplatin.

We have scheduled appointments with Head & Neck Oncologist (chemo specialist) and Radiation Oncologist in 2 weeks (the earliest they could do). Wanted to know if folks here have any thoughts about this diagnosis and about these forms of treatment and can share any insights on that.

Thanks